Me and Wezrall continued moving deeper into the hidden lair, stopping every moment here and there to listen out for out surroundings.
Now, you may be saying that listening out for surroundings is useless, especially when I have 'Overworld Detection' to my disposal, however I felt as though while it was overall better - it only allowed me to sense potential threats.
Wezrall was in danger of being ambushed, if I don't manage to warn him fast enough.
As we continued moving along, we eventually reached a crosspoint. The path we were on split off into 4 other tunnels, which all led to different places. Now the decision was - which tunnel do we take?
[Wezrall] "Lord Faofa, we may be forced to split up to search the area with maximum efficiency."
Wezrall spoke to me through some sort of telepathy. It was a side effect from the Soul Pact, allowing us to communicate through our minds. Very useful to keep a conversation going without revealing our location by using our voices.
Anyways- getting back to his point, it was a pretty good suggestion, however at the same time, it was very risky and almost impossible to pull off without getting found.
Wezrall had no way to erase his own presence using a skill, so on his own, he'd be found out quite fast.
I began to overthink how to pull of a split up successfully - After all, it was definitely the most efficient way to try and find the villagers.
May I suggest something—
"Alright Wezrall, we'll split up. Try to conceal your aura as much as possible and remain out of sight. If anyone even catches a glimpse of you, silence them sneakily."
[Wezrall] "As you say, my Lord."
Wezrall then leaped up into the air, before grabbing onto the ceiling, which was quite high up. This was far enough for him to no longer fall under the effect of my 'Undetectable' skill, however miraculously, I could not sense even the slightest hint of his aura.
Guess he is good at concealing it...
Wezrall then climbed off into the furthest left tunnel, which made me decide to go down and search the furthest right tunnel, since if neither of us found anything in these ones, that would only leave the two middle tunnels to search.
And so, we parted our ways, splitting up for this search.
...
I continued to move along the tunnel, sticking to the wall like an insect that refused to let go of a rotting piece of food. While moving, I had increased the intensity of my 'Overworld Detection' to its absolute maximum - covering a very, very large area around me.
Luckily, so far there had been nothing picked up. Although, that could also be a red flag - since that meant we had absolutely no idea on where any of the members of the Hand Sons were.
Eventually I reached the end of the tunnel, ending up in a very large room, with a bunch of.... Test tubes? Lining the entire rooms circular wall.
It was a bit strange to see... Test tubes, I mean. They looked.... Modern - like the type you'd see back in my old life or potentially in some futuristic movies.
In the middle of the room, there was a giant container, with multiple pipes going from it and linking into the ground, with purple liquid flowing through the whole thing.
Once again, it looked strangely.... Modern. Nothing like the medieval or fantasy style I had seen so far.
If anything, the closest to this aesthetic so far was Jio's home back in the Deadmans Graveyard, which had some 'modern' elements to it.
Walking up to the container, I looked around, my eyes peeled for anyone else that may be present in the room.
However, it seemed like I was the only one.
Once I made it to the container in the middle, I looked a bit more closely at the purple liquid contained within. There were... Bubbles forming inside it.
My analysis suggests that there is a faint presence of Life and Magical Energy within the container.
There could be an individual held inside.
'Yeah and one that is barely holding onto life, no less..'
I then looked a bit down - seeing once again, a modern panel and a keyboard, and buttons.... More and more this screams 'modern' to me.
What is going on here?
It looks like it may be the Work of Dwarves.... No, Elder Dwarves.
'Elder Dwarves? I suppose that would make sense.... But they can create things this advanced?'
Mhmmm-
I understand that in your old world, this type of 'technology' was the 'norm' - however in this world, this type of gear is usually only present in areas where Elder Dwarves reside and work.
Which basically gives them an monopoly in terms of advancement.... Quite clever.
I wonder though, if things like this can be built, why doesn't everyone do it?
Simple—
To create even a simple 'Machine' or 'Mechanism', a lot of really rare materials and a LOT of Magical Energy is required.
Ah, I see...
Afterwards, I began to fiddle with the panel. Luckily, I was pretty good with machines such as this, since in my old life, at my old job, I'd sometimes have to work with these sorts of machines.
As I typed away on the keyboard, I began to look through any information I could get on what was even happening here, and after looking for a little bit longer, a giant hologram appeared infront of me from the panel.
'...That's new...'
I thought, examining the image within.
The hologram showed off some sort of creature.... A creature I did not know. It had a human-type body, however it looked more like a demon if anything.
It looks to be a Demon Beast.
Demon Beast?
Think of it as a Monster version of regular Demons.
Generally, there are three types of Demons:
• Intelligent Demons,
• Demonoids,
And Demon Beasts.
The first two are more human and docile, and are generally perceived as humans, while Demon Beasts are seen as monsters of immense power capable of mass destruction.
The lowest ranked Demon Beast by my knowledge was S Rank.
Woah... Sounds terrifying...
S-Rank.... For adventurers that meant 'Heroes', however I did not know what it meant for monsters. But, if it was the same rank as the highest ranking an adventurer could get, then they had to be trouble.
Then, I heard voices coming from the tunnel I had come through.
I quickly reset all my fiddling I had done, before switching to my snake form and slithering off into the shadows.
Afterwards, a group of 5 Cloaked men came inside the room, with an unconscious woman floating behind them.
That had to be one of the kidnapped villagers. However, what were they bringing her here for..?
I decided to observe for now and not do anything, just to learn what was going on and what they were trying to do with all this 'Elder Dwarf Technology'
[?] "Get the Sacrifice ready. We're transferring her life force to the Test Subject immediately."
[Other Cloaked Men] "Right."
They then split up, bringing the unconscious woman over to a pedastal, before laying her down onto it and hooking her up to what looked like organic and inorganic vines at the same time. Or in simple terms - disgusting.
Master, I have a bad feeling about this..
Perhaps you should—
'No, let's observe a little longer..'
I shot the Ancient One down. If I was to interfere now, I wouldn't learn of the whole plan here and then wouldn't be able to bring the operation down.
The cloaked men continued to rustle around, connecting pipes and preparing what looked like magic circles around the pedestal with the woman on it and the giant container in the middle.
[?] "Everything is ready."
[?] "Good. Everyone take positions - Life Transfer #028 will begin immediately."
The others nodded and took their stands in 4 of the many magic circles they prepared earlier.
Then, they began channeling magic into them, causing all of them to light up as the machine was also turned on.
'Just what on earth is happening here-'
RED WARNING: Master, you MUST immediately interfere!
I was dumbfounded.
The hell was Ancient One on about now?!
They are draining the woman of her life and transferring it into that thing inside the container.
If you don't interfere, she'll die in a couple of minutes!
'Why the fuck did you not say so sooner?!'
I scuffed, before leaping up into the air and out of the shadows, switching to my human form before disabling my 'Undetectable' skill.
Afterwards, I created a Venom Bow and Arrow, before firing off the arrow towards one of the cloaked men, killing him in an instant.
The process was brought to a halt, as the rest of the cloaked men went into a state of shock.
[?] "Intruder!-"
I quickly shot the one shouting, killing him instantly as well.
I may have revealed myself to these guys, but ain't no fucking way am I revealing myself to anyone else in this lair.
The men began to scurry, before firing off a variety of magical attacks towards me.
I easily evaded them, before reforming my bow and arrow into the Venom Halberd and dashing in towards the cloaked men, ripping through the last two remaining on the magic circles.
[?] "Wh... Who the hell—?!"
I stabbed him through his heart from behind, after using my 'Trickster' and 'Shadow Manipulation' skill in a rapid pace.
"No one important."
I stated coldly, pulling the sword I had in my hands out of the mans back, as he fell to the ground dead. I had quickly managed to finish off all the cloaked men - luckily without raising an alarm.
Master, I suggest destroying the container using [Serpent's Wrath].
'Why Serpent's Wrath..?'
Because it is the only skill capable of erasing the life that the creature in that container has left.
Okay...
Next question - Why do I want to erase it's life?
JUST TRUST ME.
Okay, okay!
Jesus!
I turned to face the container, before making the venom weapon in my hand disappear and closing my eyes. I extended my right arm out towards the container, before charging up the skill for a couple of seconds, crimson lightning and clouds gathering in my palm.
Then, I opened my eyes, as they shined red.
Confirmed.
Using the Skill [Serpent's Wrath]..
O
nce more, a giant crimson serpent made from the clouds and lightning shot out, immediately destroying the container and the liquid, AND being inside it, before crashing into the ceiling and disappearing.
Then, the whole room seemingly lost power, as the 'electricity' or whatever was powering it, disappeared.
I sighed heavily - There, that's done.... Now..
I turned to face the pedastal with the woman on it, before walking over to it and grabbing the woman off of it, disconnecting all the connections that were connected to her.
Afterwards, I laid her down onto the ground, before analysing her vitals.
Rest assured, she is alive.
Luckily, they didn't manage to drain too much of her life. She should be able to recover in a couple of minutes.
Thank god...
That could have been bad. However....
All of this left me wondering - just what did I destroy with that container?... What were they trying to possibly revive?
And what was the panic with the Ancient One back there? He seemed distressed....
Something definitely is up - the Ancient One knows more than he's telling me. Just the question remains... What exactly is it...?
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Next Chapter:
79. -
"Busting down a Lair."